The Yukon Party is suggesting that the three party leaders meet to negotiate terms for the creation of a special select committee to consider any matter related to the government’s management of the COVID-19 crisis and to report their considerations publicly to Yukoners.

In March, the Liberals used their majority in the legislature to defeat the Yukon Party’s proposal to create such a committee.

Now, the official Opposition is proposing that efforts be undertaken to facilitate the safe return of the legislature this month.

The goal is to allow for greater scrutiny by MLAs over the government’s decisions and spending.

“Over the course of the last month and a half, the Liberal government has brought in unprecedented powers and orders affecting daily life,” the Yukon Party said Monday.

These orders include mandated closures and restrictions, as well as limits on movement that affect how Yukoners can live their lives.

“While some of these orders may be justified from a public health perspective, their passage was done without any democratic scrutiny or consultation with opposition parties, and not all are public health-related,” the Yukon Party said.

“The Liberals have taken to using the extraordinary emergency public health powers they’ve given themselves to make changes in areas traditionally considered outside the scope of public health, such as taxes, suspension of regulatory timelines, and broad abilities to amend contracts.”

These actions, the Yukon Party said, “represent an overreach on the part of the Liberals, and making these types of decisions without legislative scrutiny undermines our democratic institutions.”

Additionally, the Liberals have announced millions of dollars in new spending that has not been reviewed or even considered by the legislative assembly, the Yukon Party added.

Overall, the opposition party said, the government has been “an outlier in Canada” when it comes to accountability to the public.

Whereas other jurisdictions are holding daily public briefings with premiers or ministers, the Yukon Party said, the territorial Liberal government has now reduced the briefings to just twice weekly, further decreasing government openness and accountability.

While other jurisdictions have provided daily updates of data since the start of the crisis, the opposition said, “this government has sat on data related to testing and confirmed cases for days at a time.

“As well, briefings have a limited time for questions and in some cases members of the government flat-out refuse to answer questions.

“Finally, since these briefings do not consistently feature anyone from the Liberal cabinet, those elected to govern the territory avoid accountability for the decisions they are making that impact the lives of Yukoners.”

Last week, the Star published a story outlining Hassard’s concerns about political accountability, and those of

Floyd McCormick, a former clerk of the legislature.

At that time, a spokesperson for the Liberal cabinet refused to comment on the concerns that have been raised.